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Giras Wolfe -> Nonvarium Players -- the solution? (3/5/2011 13:16:07)
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I have talked before about nonvarium being way too weak, making this game unplayable to anyone not willing to pay $10 for very weapon he has (but the price of varium belongs in another discussion.)
How do we make them less underpowered? How much should we decrease the "stat gap" between varium and nonvarium items?
First of all, I will provide this: Nonvarium armors should get the same def/rez boost as varium ones, just with less stats. Their weapons don't have reduced damage bonuses, why would their armors have less defense and resistance in addition to fewer stats? Give level 28 armors the +8 they need, and level 25 ones the +6 they should have.
Next, I think we should rescale all nonvarium items to be exactly 4 stats less then varium items of the same level, credit price, and rarity level. That way, nonvarium players will only have 16 less stats then normal players, in addition to a much smaller weapon selection and higher stat requirements on their weapons.
This way, nonvariums will be reasonably competent. Will this reduce the value of our varium? I don't think so. Varium is supposed to give us an edge on nonvarium players, right? But if nonvarium players never play, there's no advantage. If we decrease the gap to the point where nonvariums are willing to actually play the game, we can enjoy a large, but not excessive advantage over them.
Fixing the stat gap between varium and nonvarium players is essential for this game in so many ways. It will address the blatant LIE that this game is free to play. I define a F2P game as one I can enjoy without paying money. AQW is one of those games that treat their non-payers with respect. Maybe that's why they have an active player base of something like 16 million? This game cannot be enjoyed at all at high levels as a free player. Don't believe me? Go fight 10 1v1 battles and see how many level 30-32 players are nonvarium. If you are lucky enough to meet one, ask him how he feels about his win rate.
If you treat nonvariums with respect, more will play giving a larger player base (that means more $$$ for ED from ads. Hey, there's another idea, put ads under the game that can only be removed by buying varium for any character on your account. This would increase ad revenue and provide a more superficial motivation to buy varium.) If nonvarium players play the game for longer more of them will eventually decide to buy varium instead of just leaving (again, more $$$ for ED.) Also, this will get nonvariums actually PLAYING so variums can get an increased win rate from their reasonably sized stat advantage. This will actually INCREASE the value of varium (Which again means more $$$ for ED.)
As you can see, evening out the playing field between varium and nonvarium players would make this game true to its F2P title, increase revenue for the game in the long run, and bolster the win rates of varium players. There's no down side, nonvariums are simply treated horribly now and this must be addressed on a large scale.
Post your thoughts, suggestions, and amendments to my ideas of how to make this game more playable for F2Players, or just support/not support this motion. Thank you for your time.
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